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Olive Young Awards 2025: the skincare staples that topped their categories
The 2025 Olive Young Awards recap splits skincare into eight categories: toners, serums/essences, moisturizing creams, masks, cleansing, lip care, sun care and patches. Two headline winners: Toner: Round Lab 1025 Dokdo T
0 0Light sunscreen for men with no white cast: are Korean ones lighter?
On Dcard's makeup board in Taiwan, a man asked for help. Small dark spots had started appearing on his face, and he had learned that dermatologists all call sunscreen the basic first step. He wanted something that spread
0 1What makes Korean sunscreens different? Six reviewed, one debate
On Taiwan's PTT forum (BeautySalon board), someone summed up six Korean sunscreens they had used. Their overview: Western sunscreens tend to be rich and heavy, Japanese ones light and water-resistant but drying, while Ko
0 0In an Olive Young haul, the item everyone argued about was a setting spray
On Taiwan's PTT forum (MakeUp board), someone shared an April haul from Olive Young in Korea: Espoir's glow foundation, Clio's snowflake highlighter, So Natural's setting spray, a Too Cool For School aegyo-sal pencil, Ba
0 0Rare in Korean neighbourhood stores, huge abroad: the Beauty of Joseon puzzle
A post in r/KoreanBeauty from someone who has lived in Korea for close to ten years: they had never seen Beauty of Joseon on a shelf, even at Olive Young, and did not know a single Korean who used it. They understood it
0 1Olive Young is opening in California. When will Spanish speakers get one?
Olive Young, Korea's biggest beauty chain (founded in Seoul in 1999, with more than 1,200 stores), announced that its first US store would open in Southern California in the first half of 2026, with Pasadena as the debut
0 0Packaging MOQs: the hidden cost that surprises small beauty brands
Founders often plan around the formula MOQ and get surprised by packaging: bottles, pumps, caps, labels and boxes each have their own minimums.
0 1PA++++, Broad Spectrum, the circled UVA logo: reading sunscreen labels by country
When you buy sunscreen abroad or recommend a Korean one to a friend overseas, the confusing part is usually the UVA label. SPF looks similar everywhere; UVA labeling doesn't. Korea and Japan: PA ratings From PA+ to PA+++
0 0Olive Young opens its first US store in Pasadena: what it means for brands
CJ Olive Young opened its first brick-and-mortar US store in Pasadena, California, on May 29. Key facts 58 W Colorado Blvd, about 8,647 sq ft Roughly 400 brands and 5,000 SKUs across skincare, makeup, hair and wellness A
0 0Australia's SPF retest: 16 of 20 sunscreens missed their label. Lessons for R&D
The Australian sunscreen results from last year still come up in industry conversations. Consumer group CHOICE sent 20 sunscreens labeled SPF50 or 50+ to an accredited lab, and 16 fell short of their claim. Key points On
0 0Cushion or liquid foundation: which one do you reach for?
A short question on theqoo's beauty board drew a steady stream of replies. The poster said liquid foundation clearly lasts longer, but lately they only use cushions because a cushion depends less on how the skin is behav
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0 0Writing a product brief for the lab: don't leave these out
Work with an OEM/ODM lab or in-house R&D team and you will often hear "if only the brief were more specific." Samples bouncing back several times is often less about formulation skill and more about gaps in the brief. He
0 0Olive Young Seomyeon Town, Busan: which store to pick and what's inside
Search "Olive Young Seomyeon" and you're probably trying to decide whether the flagship built into Seomyeon subway station is worth the detour. Reporting on Busan's Olive Young expansion says it is: this is one of the la
0 0More Beautiful Through Hands-On Experiences! Beauty Flagship Stores from K-Beauty Brands
In Korea, there is an old saying that seeing something once is better than hearing about it a hundred times. Experiencing things firsthand is important in everything. In particular, beauty products require a testing stag
0 02023 Seoul Hallyu Travel Guide “Person:able Seoul”
When deciding to travel and choosing a destination, the most common next step is gathering information about the place. Travelers search for what kind of city it is, must-see attractions, foods, and shopping items. Thoug
0 0Do you trust K-beauty rankings, or do they just make things viral?
Real-time rankings, award shelves and "No. 1" stickers are everywhere in Korean beauty retail. Some shoppers treat them as a shortcut. Others think they feed a loop: a product ranks, gets more shelf space, sells more, ra
0 0Why is niacinamide suddenly in everything, even foundation?
A short question on r/Sephora drew dozens of replies: why is niacinamide now in nearly everything, from moisturisers to foundation and blush? What the replies said Many called it a trend: skincare ingredients in makeup s
0 0Sugar and skin ageing: what a new lab study actually found
Headlines saying sugar ages your skin are everywhere. A peer-reviewed study highlighted by The Estée Lauder Companies in April 2026 adds a more specific piece. What the research looked at: Glycation, where sugar binds to
0 0On the shelf for nearly 20 years: which K-beauty steady-sellers survived?
A nostalgic question in r/KoreanBeauty. Prompted by a post about brands constantly launching, reformulating or discontinuing products, a long-time skincare fan (30-plus years in, about 20 of them with K-beauty) asked the
0 0Chasing viral Seoul food: worth the queue or a waste of trip time?
Every few months a new dessert or snack goes viral from Seoul, and travel threads fill up with the same debate: is it worth planning a day around it? The case for chasing it It is part of the fun of being in Seoul while
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